It is probably the most controversial traffic light law since the heating dispute: The governing parties decide to legalize cannabis in Germany – a historic change of direction in drug policy. The Union and the AfD are outraged, but the advocates see the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
Just in time for the gardening season, the federal government is allowing private and community cultivation of cannabis. Possession and consumption should also become unpunished after the law is passed by the Bundestag on April 1st. The Federal Council could still stop the law if the states get a majority, but that doesn’t appear to be the case at the moment. In the roll-call vote in the Bundestag, the law was passed with a majority of 407 of the 637 votes cast. From July, previous convictions for cannabis possession will also be retroactively deleted. The decision was preceded by a wild debate, sometimes marked by sharp accusations.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach spoke of a “difficult decision”. He was an opponent of legalization for a long time, but science taught him otherwise. “We are criminalizing young people whose lives we are destroying because we have not protected them from the black market and the drug trade. We have let these young people fall victim to the open knife and then punish them with criminal records that can destroy their lives,” said the SPD politician about the previous handling.
The black market is being pushed back by giving adults a legal source of supply. Prevention services should be increased and the sale of drugs to minors should be punished more severely. “There is often a lack of information. Many young people do not know that cannabis consumption acts like a brain poison for the growing brain,” said Lauterbach. “We’re not trivializing it, we’re taking it out of the taboo zone and clarifying it.”
Sharp criticism from the Union and AfD
The CDU health politician Tino Sorge described Lauterbach’s remarks as “by far the most absurd speech on the subject that I have heard in a long time.” Pediatricians, psychologists, police officers and criminal lawyers would warn against legalization. Reducing crime and increasing youth protection through legalization are “nonsense”. Sorge’s parliamentary group colleague Simone Borchardt accused the traffic light of ignorance: “All the interior ministers of the federal states have spoken out against it and you, dear traffic light, still do what you want.”
“You have cut the prevention funds. With you, legalization comes first and then prevention at some point,” said Borchardt. SPD health politician Heike Baehrens later contradicted this: “We have already actively increased the budget for prevention, for increased prevention and advice.” Smoking weed for minors must remain strictly prohibited.
Borchardt and AfD health politician Jörg Schneider criticized the fact that possession and consumption will be legalized on April 1st, but that the first privately grown plants cannot be harvested for months. Growing associations will not be approved until July 1st. “This gap is being closed by the black market,” complained Schneider. “Double shifts are already being worked on the world’s illegal cannabis plantations.” He called for at least the legalization of possession to be postponed until September 1st. “Just flip the timeline.”
Greens point to health protection
Marianna Klein-Schmeink from the Green Party said that people who consume cannabis are already dependent on the black market. “Of course there are some problems in the transition,” she said. In the future, however, the legal source of supply will take effect. As a doctor, her group colleague Kirsten Kappert-Gonther referred to the progress in health protection: “These adult users then know the THC concentration and they can be sure that there are no harmful contaminations.”
THC is the psychoactive ingredient in the cannabis flower. Cultivation clubs should only be allowed to sell cannabis with a maximum of 10 percent THC to adolescents between the ages of 18 and 21. There is also great demand for lower concentrations among other consumers, while the supply on the black market has been characterized by increasingly stronger dosages for years.
Adults aged 18 and over are generally permitted to possess up to 25 grams of cannabis for personal consumption. Three live cannabis plants should be legal in your own home and up to 50 grams of cannabis for personal consumption. Public consumption should be banned, among other things, in schools, sports facilities and within sight of them – specifically within 100 meters of the entrance area as the crow flies.
“Growing associations” for adults should also be permitted, in which up to 500 members who live in Germany grow cannabis together and sell it to each other for their own consumption – a maximum of 50 grams per member per month. No later than 18 months after the law comes into force, an initial assessment should be available on, among other things, how it affects the protection of children and young people.
Sales outlets in planning
Kappert-Gonther referred to the example of Canada, where only two percent of consumers regularly resort to the black market. However, in Canada it is possible to purchase cannabis from licensed outlets. This was also what the traffic light parties were aiming for, but had to refrain from doing so due to current EU law. After the legalization decided today, the second pillar is to enable the introduction of licensed dispensaries as part of model projects in order to collect long-term arguments for changing EU law.
Ates Gürpinar from the Left, whose parliamentary group agreed to legalization, also called for this plan to be implemented quickly. The “hare-footedness” of the traffic light representatives plays into the hands of the Union. The “bureaucratic decriminalization” will overburden the police in the foreseeable future. Gürpinar accused the Union of being dishonest and that the CDU and CSU did not care about child and youth protection: “You think supervised drinking from the age of 14 is a great idea. Alcohol, cigarettes, sweets in the whining zone in the supermarket – that fits into your world.”
Relief or extra work for the judiciary?
Another point of contention in the debate was retroactive impunity, which the German Association of Judges sharply criticized because of the enormous administrative burden on the judiciary, as did the justice ministers of the federal states. “What logic does it correspond to when you abolish a criminal offense because crimes are increasing because something has become fashionable?” asked Axel Müller from the CDU. This is a “legal surrender”.
The 300,000 convictions that needed to be reviewed overburdened the judiciary. In the Cologne district court alone, five judges would be fully utilized for a whole year, criticized Müller. Konstantin Kuhle from the FDP countered: “In view of 180,000 criminal proceedings per year that are related to consumption, to claim that legalization would not relieve the burden on the police and judiciary is completely missing the reality.”
Whether the states agree with this assessment will be seen at the next Federal Council meeting on March 22nd. The majority of states would have to vote against it in order to avert the law. Given the many governments in which the SPD and the Greens are involved, this seems unlikely.